The Courier is Sick Again
by jacqsom
Summary: Gail reflects on what Dov, Chris and Nick think of her when Holly comes into 15th Precinct to deliver a report. Story then continues with both Holly and Sophie making an enormous impact into Gail's life/world.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Couldn't help myself had to do another take at this before the next episode in a bit over 12 hours time. My editor is asleep as it is night time in the Land of Oz so all mistakes are mine and anything that isn't a mistake is also mine ;) enjoy.**

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Gail was sitting at her desk completing her paperwork from today's Patrol still burning with anger as for today she got stuck with Nicholas. Surrounding her now at 15 Precinct office are all the boys; Dov, Chris and Nick while they too finish their paperwork off before the end of their shift.

She looks at them all just sitting there and she can't take it anymore, she gets up and grabs her Dad coffee cup and heads straight to the kitchen. After making her coffee she leans on the bench and starts to go over the last couple of shifts she has had with the boys.

Her first memory flashes back to Dov and the conversations that they had while they were on patrol the other day before Fight Night. Out of all of the things that were said, Dov telling Officer Luck from 27th Division that she does not have feelings really hurt her even though she made sure she didn't let on. That's what a Peck does after all, don't show them how you really feel, don't show weakness. It wasn't the fact that it was Officer Luck, it was the fact that Dov actually believes this of her.

Her second memory is of Chris telling her about how cold she is, how she never gets too wrapped in anything, if it doesn't work out, he believes she just simply moves onto the next one. Of all the men she dated, he should know that this isn't her after all. Chris actually got to see snippets of the true Gail especially when she was trying to save his life in that abandoned warehouse after he was stabbed. That whole day was of one of hurt and pain for she had to comfort Sophie with the death of her mother; her heart went out for this child.

After taking another sip of her coffee she now replays today's adventures with Nick. They got called to a domestic violence scene where a guy held a knife to his girlfriend threatening to kill her as she had cheated on him. After some time, Gail was able to reason with the guy to put the knife down. After they cuffed him, Nick couldn't help make reference to how she is a cheater and that is how she must have known what to say to get him to drop the knife.

She pushes herself up from the kitchen bench as she thinks to herself how only two people in her life truly get her, well only one now. The first being Oliver and the other was Holly. Not even her own family get her! She sighs, takes the final sip of coffee from her cup and washes it out before heading back out of the kitchen to her desk. The faster this day gets over the better.

Walking into the kitchen was Oliver "Hey darlin', how's my Peck?"

"Pfft, been better, been worse" is all Gail can get out, as she continues on walking back to her desk. Oliver can see her shoulders are hunched, even though she is nearing the end of her shift, to him she looks more tired than she ought.

He changes paths and now follows her to her desk, he is about to speak when he sees Holly coming down the corridor. She too is looking more tired than he can recall ever seeing her.

Oliver turns to Gail and says loudly for both her and Holly to hear "Oh look, the courier is sick again!"

Gail spins around in her chair with a quizzical look and without a beat says "What are you on about Oliver?" and that is when she sees her. Her face drops, her breathing slows but her heart beats faster as she takes in the sight of Holly in the Precinct.

At hearing Oliver's words, Holly stops dead in her tracks. She is now frozen to her spot holding a blue folder with the results that Traci got her to put a rush on. As it was at her last case for the day, she thought she would speed things up and bring the results directly herself. Even though she knew she might run into Gail, she kind of feared it and was also excited at the prospect at the same time.

Gail gets up from her chair and walks over to where Holly is still standing frozen to the floor.

"What are you doing here?" Gail asks bitingly.

"I have a report for Traci" she says back trying to show no emotion, trying to keep her tone flat.

"Really, you expect me to believe that?" Gail shoots back.

"No, Gail I don't expect you to believe anything I say or don't anymore" Holly says starting to get defensive.

"Whatever!" Gail quips back while flailing her arms in the air.

"Whatever? Really is that all you have to say? Hey how about I go get you that taser so you can tase yourself in the eye so you don't have to see me again" Holly is now mad. Mad at Gail but more mad at herself for coming to the station in the first place. She tells herself that no matter what, the courier can deliver these reports in the future. Never again!

While this exchange was going on, more officers had stopped what they were doing and was watching the confrontation between the two woman. Traci, Steve, Sam and Andy now stood at the top stairs to the entry of the Detectives Office. No one had ever seen before someone giving it back to Gail like this, in some regards they were in awe of this woman but at the same time they feared what Gail was going to do or say next.

Without thinking Gail blurted out "God damn it Holly don't you know that you broke my heart that night. If I knew you were only just having fun I would have made sure I didn't fall in love you because I am tired of crying myself to sleep at night"

At that acknowledgement the whole world seemed to stop turning. Dov, Chris and Nick who were watching and listening the whole time stood together with their mouths fallen wide open in shock at Gail's confession of love.

"You love me?" Holly's heart is now beating a million miles an hour, did she really just hear Gail tell her that she loved her.

"Yeah even though it doesn't matter does it!" she simply says back with her head now looking at her own feet.

"Gail, of course it matters"

"What so everyone can see that I have a heart and I am not this uncaring freak that they all think I am" she responds resolute and somewhat now defeated.

Holly takes a step forward and lifts Gail's chin up with her right index finger so they are now looking into each other's eyes and says in a soft nurturing tone "I don't think that, I have seen how much you care in fact I am kinda in love with you too".

"You are?" Gail says back still unsure.

"Yep, I wasn't just having fun Gail, I was falling in love with you too" Holly smiles her lopsided grin for the first time in awhile, still looking Gail directly in her eyes.

Gail looks into Holly's beautiful brown eyes and then down at her lips, those lips that she misses so much. She grabs the back of Holly's head and drags her in for a passionate kiss; much like their first kiss in the interrogation room on that fateful day that the courier was sick for the first time!

In the background of the station they both can hear Oliver and Traci wolf whistling while the rest of the office clap them on but they don't care and stay in each other's arms kissing.


	2. Chapter 2

After leaving the Station both Gail and Holly went to the local diner to get some dinner as surprisingly Gail was rather hungry and they both knew that they had to have the talk. They needed to discuss what happened and talk all about their fears and insecurities if they had any chance of having a future.

While eating their dinner, they were just discussing their respective day without getting into too many details; at this stage even though the lines of communication are open they are keeping the discussion to general topics. After finishing their meals they order a pot of tea each. After it is delivered it is Holly that begins.

"I am so sorry for the night at The Penny, I should have warned you about Lisa and how she thinks everyone is never good enough, but I should have defended you but knowing her she would have shot something else back. So these days I just let her have her say and basically ignore her and do what I want anyway, gee if I actually listened to her I would probably be a Heart Surgeon in some big fancy hospital and be so unhappy and just for the record, I was not JUST having fun with you, but I am definitely having fun with you; as well as every other feeling that goes with relationships. If I was only in it for fun, I would never have introduced you to either of them.

"I am sorry that I offered to Tase myself in my eyes. I got scared and as I knew I was falling in love with you, hearing those words made me doubt how you felt about me. It made me think I was just any other girl to you and that you were going to leave me after you had your fun with me; as that is what everyone ever does."

"Gail, I love you and I don't ever plan on leaving you, I have been so miserable without you, you are the one who brought the joy back into my life; but promise me that we will talk before you ever think of jumping out of that tree again"

"That bloody cat analogy; fine if you promise to drop me being like a cat, I promise that next time something freaks me out that I will come talk to you first."

"That's all I ask, but I so am totally going to miss the cat metaphor" Holly adds jokingly

"So this may sound corny, but considering that we have both told each other that we love each other already, Holly will you please be my girlfriend?"

"I never thought you would ask Officer!"

"Is that a Yes?"

"It is the biggest yes Gail, I would love to be your girlfriend and for you to be mine"

With that Gail leans over the booth they are sitting at and with her hands gently placed on Holly's face, seals it with a kiss.

Even though they have talked Holly can still see that the blue of her girlfriends eyes are not the deep blue she remembers, something is still different. For tonight though she doesn't want to push just in case it is just pure tiredness. For she knows herself that she has not slept will since that fateful night.

"Hey I have tomorrow off, did you want to do something?" Holly asked enthusiastically.

"Sorry Hols, I can't. I have a date with Sophie" the blonde responds hesitantly

"A date, you have a date?" Holly can feel her whole body on edge at Gail's statement

"Don't be jealous Holly"

With that Holly pulls her hands free of Gail's and retorts "How can I not be?"

"You are cute when your eyes turn from brown to green" The blonde says with a small smile on her face

"Gail, who is Sophie?" tilting her head now even more puzzled

Gail grabs Holly's hands back into hers and with sadness coming over her eyes, she tells Holly.

"A week ago when I was partnered with Chris, I came upon this women who was doing her laundry, her laundry Holly. She had been shot in the head by a stray bullet but was still alive. She kept calling out Sophie, so I thought that was what her name was. She got through surgery but later on she had a haemorrhage and died. We tried to locate where she lived, but no body with the name of Sophie was on the list of tenants. Later in the day I went back to look for her keys in the laundry room in the hope that we could discover who she is and notify her next of kin. I had just discovered the keys, when this cute kid walked in as she couldn't find her Mum; she was holding a key chain and the key chains were the same as the one I just found. I asked her whether her Mums name was Sophie and she said no, that her name was Sophie her mums name was Trina."

"Oh, Gail" Holly is stroking the back of the blondes hands as she speaks.

"Well it was hard enough to tell her that her Mum had died but then I found out that she has no family, this 8 year old is all alone and it's not fair"

"Of course it isn't fair" Holly sighs

"Well since then I like to go visit her in the orphanage to see how she is doing. Ttomorrow they are going to let me take her out and we are going to go to The Arcade and to see a movie, I haven't told her yet but I have organised to bring her best friend Mella as well. Hey would you like to come too? I would love for you to meet this beautiful girl with an incredible smile"

"I would be honoured, but only if you are sure" Holly says back

"Totally, how about I pick you up at 10 and then we will collect Sophie so we can both see the look of surprise on her face when we meet Mella at the Mall."

Holly noticed that all the while as Gail was talking about Sophie, the shine in her eyes came back to her usual full radiance.

**A/N**

**After watching the last episode, I noticed that not only I picked up on the possibility of Gail having Sophie somehow in her life. With Gail's big heart especially when it comes to kids, the start of this scenario would not surprise me in the least.**


	3. Chapter 3

Gail was happy. Normally when she sees Sophie it is still in the confines of the orphanage. As she was leaving from her last visit Jean who ran the place pulled Gail into her office and discussed with Gail about whether she would continue to visit Sophie as she noticed how much happiness that the visits brought the young girl despite the fact that she was grieving for her mother. When Gail responded that she would, Jean let her know that if she ever wanted to take her out for the day that she would be more than happy to assist. Of course Gail was excited at this prospect and agreed a date and time for this immediately.

The moment Gail got home that day, she got straight onto Oliver to find Mella's parents phone number so she could not just take out Sophie for the day, she could add in an extra surprise. She couldn't wait until she could see Sophie's face; she loved it when that child smiled.

As Gail and Holly entered the Orphanage, Jean ran straight over to them. "Hey Gail, good to see you again" she looks at Holly and holds out her hands and says "Hi, I'm Jean".

Holly shakes her hand and says "Hi, I'm Holly".

"Lovely to meet you" she says while smiling warmly at the brunette. "Now Gail we have some paperwork that needs to be filled out before Sophie can be allowed out of here for the day, so if you come this way we can get started".

Gail takes Holly's hand in hers and they walk to Jean's office. Holly is so happy to see Gail so happy herself.

After what seemed like hours, but in actual fact was less than 20 minutes they had finally finished filling in the last form. As they stood up and stretched another lady opened the door to the office and in an instance Sophie let go of the ladies hand and ran excitedly over to Gail.

"Gail!" Sophie screamed in excitement and with her massive smile hugged Gail tightly; it was less than a second that Gail hugged her tightly back. Neither of them wanted to let go, but Gail made sure she didn't let go until Sophie was ready. "Miss Jean told me that she had a surprise for me, oh this is such a good day, it's the best".

"Sophie, I would like you to meet my girlfriend Holly" Holly looks at Gail with a smile for calling her girlfriend and then down at the smiling Sophie. She can totally understand how Gail just loves that smile on the young girl.

"Hi Miss Holly, nice to meet you" Sophie says so happily.

"Lovely to meet you too Sophie" Holly answers back with a big smile herself. Sophie's smile is just so contagious.

Sophie turns to Gail and says "I have drawn you a picture, when we get inside I will get it for you"

Gail softly says back "Well that is going to have to wait, as Holly and I are going to take you out for the day"

"Really, where are we going?" Sophie asked while hugging Gail tightly around her waist again.

"Well that is a surprise young lady" Gail says still smiling at Sophie's excitement.

After getting out to the car and ensuring that Sophie was correctly seat belted in, Gail sent Mella's mum a quick text to let them know that they were on the way to the Mall. Thirty minutes later after they found a car park they entered the Mall. Sophie's eyes were still shining brightly and was smiling away to the whole world while holding Gail's hand in hers.

As they got near the food court Sophie's eyes got even brighter when she spotted Mella and her Mum. Gail hadn't spotted them yet but could feel a tug on her hand so she let go of Sophie's hand and Sophie ran over to Mella. Gail and Holly then walked over to where she had run to and introduced themselves formally as they had only ever talked on the phone to each other.

"Now you are sure that these two aren't going to be too much of a handful for you both" Mella's mum says with a small chuckle.

"No, we've got this and this is such a pleasure" Gail replies as Holly nods yes.

"It is such a beautiful thing you two are doing for Sophie, I am sure her Mum would be proud".

Gail's eyes start to tear up and with Holly noticing she grabs onto her hand and squeezes tighter. With the feel of Holly's touch she automatically feels somewhat better "It's the least anyone could do".

"Well, there should be more people in the world like you" Mella's Mum says back to Gail.

While Gail talked to arrange a suitable time to bring Mella home, Holly turned to the young girls giggling away oblivious to the adults conversation and says "So girls, are you ready for some fun?"

"Is Mella coming too?" Sophie blurts out confused but happy.

"Most definitely" Holly adds and with that Sophie gives Holly a big hug and beams another glorious smile.

Gail sees Sophie giving Holly a hug and can't help feeling happy and contented at the sight.

The four now wave goodbye to Mella's mum and head to the movies. As Holly gets the tickets for them all to see Rio 2, Gail and the girls go and get the food and drinks for the movie. As they meet back Holly can't help but laugh at seeing Gail's hands overflowing full of Popcorn, lollies, Ice-creams, different coloured Slurpies and of course Cheese Puffs. There is more than enough to feed 6 full sized adults with all the food.

After the movie was over the kids were still talking and laughing at all the funny scenes in the movie. It was so great seeing both girls have so much fun in each other's company. "Now young ladies, are you ready for more fun?" Gail says.

"For sure" they both say at the same time.

"Well you better go to the restroom and wash yourselves up and then we will go onto our next adventure" the blonde says smiling at the both of them.

After the girls go to the restroom, Gail leans into Holly and asks if she is having fun to which Holly responds "The best". After she answers they hold each other in an embrace and sneak a quick tender peck or two on the lips.

As they get closer to the games arcade the two young girls seem to get even gigglier. Sophie turns to Gail and asks "Are we going to the arcade?"

"If that's ok with you" Gail says back to Sophie smiling.

"Yay, we love the arcade"

"Me too" Gail responds back with a wink.

As they enter the Arcade, Gail goes off and organises the coins for the girls and for her and Holly too. As she gets back she hands each girl a packet of coins and tells them to go have as much fun as they can. Within a second both of the young girls are gone.

"So what game would you like to play first My Lady" Gail says to Holly.

"I think shooting hoops for me" Holly says with a wink to Gail, knowing that she hates sports.

"Oh you and sport" Gail rolls her eyes and then adds "Well ok as long as I get to play some shoot them up games later".

"Deal" and with that Holly grabs Gail's hand and leads her to the hoops.

Surprisingly Gail isn't too bad at the basketball game and actually beats Holly, she reckons it's because when she is bored at work while in booking that she likes to toss paper in the bin at all different ranges and angles to entertain herself. Holly as a prize gives her girlfriend a kiss for which Gail greatly receives.

"Time for Time Crisis Holly, and you can watch me win again" Gail says while dragging her over to the gun game.

After the game was over Gail says indignantly, "No way, I want a rematch. There is no way you could have defeated a highly trained Officer like Moi" She is also somewhat embarrassed that she lost to Holly.

"Oh Honey, where is my kiss for winning?" At that Gail glints her eyes at her and gives her a very quick peck on the cheek.

"I think someone is a sore loser" and points to her lips with a pout. Gail smiles and gives her a proper congratulatory kiss.

"I will get you next time Holly, next time" the blonde adds as she pulls slowly away from the kiss.

As they both laugh the other two girls come running up to them with big smiles. "Look how many tickets we won"

"Wow, let's go see what prizes you can get with these" Holly says to the girls as she hands them her tickets that she and Gail won on the basketball game.

As they are heading to the counter Gail sees Whack a Mole and can't resist having a go. All the girls laugh at Gail while she tries to whack the heads coming out of the holes, she is so uncoordinated that in the end that she can't help but laugh at her own antics.

As they walk out of the Arcade, each of the young girls are now wearing their prizes of a pink plastic bracelets and some star shaped yellow sunglasses. The two young girls are just so happy that Gail can't help to think that she would love to see Sophie smile like this every day.

After dropping Mella off back at her place they let the girls play in Mella's room for awhile, they know that they have to take Sophie back soon though. While drinking the tea that Mella's Mum has made for them both Holly can see that Gail is getting a little sad knowing that this day of fun with Sophie is going to end. Just seeing her eyes mist up makes her own misty as well.

Back at the orphanage just before dinner time, Gail and Holly walk up the stairs holding Sophie's hands and are swinging her up each step, both are laughing as Sophie says again while she giggles. The closer they get to the top of the stairs the slower Gail is going, her heart is beating faster and she can feel the anxiety building within her.

When they get to the top and open the door, Jean spots them straight away and comes over to enquiry about their day. Sophie tells her all about her fun and adventures and that she can't wait to draw more pictures for both Gail and Holly the next time they do art. After a while they give each other a hug goodbye with a promise to come visit again soon.

As Jean leads Sophie off, Sophie pulls out of her grasp and runs back and gives Holly a huge hug first and then as she hugs Gail, she tells her that she loves her. Gail is all choked up but holds onto Sophie even tighter again and tells her that she loves her too.

**A/N**

**As I was just starting to write this, my Mum called with sad news to tell me my Aunty Jean had passed away. This story is in dedication to her for teaching me strength of character and for making me laugh and smile so much when I was a child.**


	4. Chapter 4

It has now been a couple of weeks since Gail and Holly took Sophie out for the day even though Gail makes sure she visits her a couple of times a week to see how she is going and to draw pictures and read stories together. When Gail isn't with Sophie or at work, she hangs with Holly doing things that new couples do. As they get closer and open up more their relationship continues to get stronger by the day but Gail is headed for a week of bad news, how will she handle it!

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**Wednesday**

Gail was joking and talking with Traci in the station about a case when all of a sudden she went paler than her usual shade and suddenly passed out on the floor of the Precinct. The noise of her head hitting the floor made every officer in the office searching for what made the crashing sound look up from what they were doing. Traci immediately tended to Gail on the floor; she is out cold. Chris is on the radio requesting an ambulance and Chloe already has keys in her hands to go get Holly from the lab. She yells to Dov to make sure he calls her the moment they know what hospital they are going to take her too.

A couple of minutes later, Gail started to open her eyes. She can feel the cold of the floor and the voices around her, but she can't recall how she got to be where she was and she can't seem to be able to speak properly. Traci was putting a blanket that Dov got from booking around her to keep her warm as her body was sweating and already she could feel a migraine coming on. As Traci notices Gail's eyes opening, she rubs her shoulders gently and tells her not to move and that medics are on the way. Gail tries to speak but the desire to close her eyes is just too great.

By the time Chloe picks up and takes Holly to the hospital, Gail is already in emergency with Traci by her side getting checked over by the intern on duty. Holly notices Traci first and heads in her direction as she needs to know what is wrong with her girlfriend. Chloe wasn't able to tell Holly much of the details besides hearing an awful thud and then seeing Gail on the ground. When she gets over to the hospital bed she introduces herself to the intern but makes sure she doesn't get in his way. Gail's eyes are open but Holly can tell that something is definitely wrong as the deep blue colour that she always sees has turned grey.

After having blood tests and a MRI, the doctor discharges Gail to Holly's care and tells her to come back on Monday to outpatients for all the results. For now though Gail is to go home and sleep for the next couple of days. The doctor hands Holly a prescription for pain meds and sleeping tablets to be filled at the pharmacy as he warned that Gail's head and neck are going to be sore tomorrow and for a couple of days at least.

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**Sunday**

By the time Sunday rolled around Gail was feeling a lot better, she was still very tired but she thinks to herself that for the last couple of months that she has been feeling like that, that maybe she just needs a holiday as she has been a bit run down lately.

As Gail and Holly were lying in bed cuddling and talking, Gail's phone rang.

"Crap, it's Mother!" she says rolling her blue eyes while looking at her phone before tossing it back on the bedside table. After it stops ringing, within a second it is ringing again.

"Way for Mother to ruin a beautiful Sunday lay in with my beautiful girlfriend" the blonde says to Holly before sitting up in bed and answering her phone as she knows that when Elaine really wants to talk there is no stopping her.

"Good morning Mom!" she says but in a timid manner. She wishes she could be stronger when she talks to her Mom, but over the years her confidence in speaking up to her has dwindled and she is just like a child that her Mom leads along and Gail dutifully follows.

"Oh Gail, thank goodness you picked up" Elaine says sounding like she had been crying.

Gail immediately picks up on the fact that something is wrong "What is it Mom, is everything ok?"

"Darling your Uncle Lloyd has passed away" she says sniffling into the phone.

"What? When? How?" is all Gail can get out as she is in total shock. Her Uncle Lloyd on her father's side was such a loving Man. She can recall endless memories of him while she was growing up. Each summer up at the Cabin he would come up for a long weekend with her cousins who were much older than she was. She always felt left out while her brother and cousins would run around together, but her Uncle Lloyd would always sit with her on the porch and tell her stories that always ended in them laughing.

"He was sitting on his favourite garden chair overlooking his Rose garden, Aunty Mavis went to take him his morning cup of coffee and paper and found him, they suspect he had a heart attack" Gail recalls the Rose garden and how proud he was of it, he had won numerous awards in gardening competitions and was even featured in numerous Garden magazines.

"I can't believe it, how is Aunty Mavis coping" Gail softly asks her mother.

"She is doing ok, even though she is sad she is comforted by the fact that he died peacefully while sitting in his favourite spot in the entire planet"

After talking to her Mom for a little bit longer, she hangs up the phone and turns around where she finds Holly is waiting to hold her, to comfort her. "I'm so sorry Gail, tell me about him?" Gail leans her head into Holly's shoulders as Holly rubs her fingers in comforting circles on her back. She sighs and then actually chuckles at one of her memories before pulling slightly back so she can see the brunettes deep brown eyes and she tells her the stories her Uncle used to tell her. Even though she hurts that her uncle has died, she laughs at the wonderful memories he has left behind.

* * *

**Monday**

Since Wednesday Holly has been off work on leave to look after Gail; tending to all her needs and whims. As they sit patiently in the corridors of the hospital waiting to be called by the doctor on call in outpatients, Holly notices Gail watching a Mother and her newborn baby and smiling. It makes Holly wonder about the future with Gail and whether her girlfriend wants to be a mother one day. Her thoughts are broken as a middle aged doctor calls out "Gail, Gail Peck" Gail stands and takes Holly's hand and walk in together.

"Come in, take a seat" he gestures to the girls.

Holly quickly introduces herself to the doctor.

"Right then, I'm Dr Kalas and I will run through your results from your blood tests and scans" he rummages through some paper before turning to Gail.

"Well Gail, all your results have come back and show a normal study except for one thing" Gail looks at him with concern and Holly squeezes Gail's hand for reassurance.

"Your iron levels are extremely low which in turn has made you anaemic" Gail pulls her head back at this puzzled.

"Uhm I have always suffered from low iron count, so I am already on Iron supplements so how can that be?" Gail quizzes the doctor.

"Well if that is the case, we need to look for answers on why you aren't absorbing the iron" the doctor hums to himself and tapping his fingers for a little bit before adding "I probably would recommend a pelvic ultrasound to make sure there is nothing going on down in your uterus" the doctor says to Gail while rubbing his chin while still thinking. He taps away at his computer while Gail looks to Holly but Holly doesn't seem to be concerned as she gives her a comforting smile which makes the blonde relax a little in her chair.

The doctor turns to the printer and takes off a piece of paper before turning back to Gail, "Right if you go up to level 6 and go to Imaging hand them this and they will organise the scan. Come back on Wednesday and we will have your results and we will go from there. Oh and until then take double the amount of your iron tablets we have to get your levels up"

As they head to Level 6, Gail quizzes Holly on why she would need a pelvic exam. Holly responds in her usual nerd self "One of the more common causes of anaemia in women is Fibroids" without pausing she continues "80% of women will have fibroids, they are growths enclosed in capsules attached to the wall of your womb but most of the time you don't need to do anything and you get no symptoms"

"Are they cancerous?" Gail asks really worried

"No, and they don't spread to other parts of your body" the brunette answers.

After getting the scans Gail was exhausted so Holly took her home to have a nap.

* * *

**Tuesday**

Gail was due back at work today but when she woke her head was pounding. As she stood up to go get the painkillers she could feel herself get dizzy so she quickly sat back down again. By the time Holly walked back into the bedroom Gail had managed to sit back in bed with her legs drawn in and her head leaning on her knees groaning.

"Honey, are you ok?" the brunette says while running over to her to see what was wrong.

"Yeah I just felt dizzy and now I'm getting a migraine" Holly looks into her eyes and can see that they have turned grey again.

"That will be from the anaemia" Holly says while massaging Gail's head and shoulders to release some tension.

Holly put Gail back to bed and got her some strong painkillers. While in the kitchen she called Oliver to let her know that Gail wouldn't be at work.

Gail slept most of the day only waking up for more painkillers and to drink fluids.

At around 4:30 in the afternoon Gail was feeling slightly better, even though her whole body hurt the sickening feeling from the migraine was gone. She was about to go for a shower when she heard her phone ring, she recognised the number as a work one so she answered it.

As she didn't know who it was she simply answers "Gail Peck"

"Oh Gail" Traci says "uhm, I have some bad news" she tells Gail as her voice starts to break from grief.

"What is it Traci?" Gail's mind is racing a million thoughts at what could be wrong.

"I wanted to be the one to tell you as I know you two got along so well and well" she pauses

"Trace?" Gail is becoming more panicky at what could be wrong.

"Julie from Purchasing was coming back from her holiday in Singapore and when they landed in Vancouver for a stopover they rushed her to the hospital but she didn't make it"

"What?"

"She had Deep Vein Thrombosis and they couldn't save her"

Even though they stayed on the phone for another five minutes not many words were spoken as she was in shock.

Julie was a beautiful middle aged woman with a wonderful heart and soul. She and Gail got along and would joke around in the office and sometimes have serious chats together in the kitchen. On the weekends she would volunteer with her mother doing charity work to help the homeless. She never said a bad word about anyone, was always positive and in good spirits. It was a joke in the office of how Julie the good natured one could get along so well with Gail.

The moment Holly walked back into the bedroom; Gail walked over to her with tears in her eyes and wrapped her arms tightly around her waist not wanting to let her go. After awhile Gail told Holly about Traci's phone call and all about her friend at work that passed away.

* * *

**Wednesday**

Gail and Holly were sitting back in Dr Kalas room when he looked over the results of the Pelvic Scan. Gail was looking at his facial expression trying to take in whether he was going to give her good news or bad news.

"Well it seems that we have found the reason for your anaemia. You have a 57mm long submucous fibroid on your left ovary and a 24x22x19mm one on the right next to it. There are also other smaller ones in there. Now without treatment your anaemia is going to get worse so I am going to refer you to a Gynaecologist for treatment but it will require surgery. I would recommend you get onto this straight away"

"Surgery?" Gail asks the doctor worried.

"There are no medicines that will get rid of fibroids, the Gynaecologist will run over his recommendations, but you are looking at either an Endometrial Ablation where we remove the offending growths or worst case is a Hysterectomy where we remove the uterus"

"Can I still have children?"

"Well if you have the Ablation there is still a chance that you can still have children, however it is also probable to have fibroids grow back in the future, with the Submucous types that you have it can make it more difficult to fall pregnant, with a Hysterectomy well there can be no chance of having children".

Gail sits there taking it all in as Holly continues to hold her hand for support. Gail can feel the anxiety in her build the more the doctor talks about the fibroids, surgery and the possibility that she might not be able to have children. The week of bad news has finally caught up on her and she starts to tear up, she pulls her hand away from Holly's and runs out of the Doctors Office. Holly calls out to her girlfriend, but she is gone.


End file.
